entry
slab
/slæb/A thick, broad, flat piece of material
From Middle English; ultimate origin uncertain slab (A large).
from Proto-Germanic *slaipaz
from Middle English sclabbe, slabbe, of uncertain origin; possibly
Word Ancestry
from Proto-Germanic *slaipaz
from Middle English sclabbe, slabbe, of uncertain origin; possibly
Picture an English sawmill in the 1300s: a broad, stubborn slice of timber comes off the log, too thick to bend and too useful to discard. Someone called it a *sclabbe* or *slabbe*, but nobody knows exactly where that chunky word came from. One theory links it to a Germanic family connected with “slippery” and smooth timber; another connects it with Celtic words for a splinter or chip, though the Oxford English Dictionary rejects that route on formal grounds. By the 1570s, a slab could specifically mean the outside cut of a tree, and in 1927 it acquired its modern construction sense: a rectangular block of precast concrete. So a word of uncertain birth now names everything from a gravestone to a skyscraper floor—and, in Australian slang, even a carton of beer.
The Story
Picture an English sawmill in the 1300s: a broad, stubborn slice of timber comes off the log, too thick to bend and too useful to discard. Someone called it a *sclabbe* or *slabbe*, but nobody knows exactly where that chunky word came from. One theory links it to a Germanic family connected with “slippery” and smooth timber; another connects it with Celtic words for a splinter or chip, though the Oxford English Dictionary rejects that route on formal grounds. By the 1570s, a slab could specifically mean the outside cut of a tree, and in 1927 it acquired its modern construction sense: a rectangular block of precast concrete. So a word of uncertain birth now names everything from a gravestone to a skyscraper floor—and, in Australian slang, even a carton of beer.
Modern Usage
A customized low-riding car in Southern U.S. slang; in Australia, a carton of 24 beers.
Notable References
- Urban Dictionary entries for “Slow Low And Bangin'” and a carton of beer
Kin & Kindred
From 'slab'·A large, thick, flat piece
Derived Terms
English words from this root
Sources
Urban Dictionary
Wiktionary